PITTSBURGH (KDKA) — The family of a man charged in a bizarre home invasion says he is also a victim, brutally beaten with a baseball bat after a homeowner accused him of breaking in and stabbing him.

KDKA’s Kym Gable talked to relatives of 30-year-old Michael Pistorius, charged in a Tuesday robbery and assault on Walton Avenue in Carrick.

He’s accused of crawling through a pet door and holding his ex-boss at knife-point, demanding money owed for a construction job.

“I think he went there to try to collect his money and when they wasn’t trying to give him his money, he got upset,” sister Chris Pistorius said. “Maybe [he] threatened him. I don’t think he threatened them with a knife or anything.”

She claims her brother would never fit through a dog door. She believes he entered through the front door and asked for his cash.

Frank Comport told police he awoke to find an enraged Pistorius in his living room, holding a knife.

“I thought it was the dog coming through the door. Here’s a crazy man with a knife standing over us while we’re sleeping,” he said. “It was terrifying. It was the most terrifying thing I ever went through.”

Comport’s girlfriend ran for help and a neighbor came over with a bat. The fight spilled into the street.

Kym Gable joined the KDKA News Team in 2006 as a part-time reporter. She can also occasionally be seen behind the anchor desk on weekends.
Before coming to KDKA, Kym worked at FOX 53 in Pittsburgh and in her hometown of Wheeling, W. Va. as an...